White Walls
by Moe23
Summary: Sword fights and romance... MWPP and Lily. This is a pre-harry potter fic. A new girl shows up at hogwarts. Everything that was, is now completely different. this fic is formerly the year that changed everything.
1. Tournament

AN- Okay, this being my first semi-serious fic, I wanted to rewrite it.  That and I already have the sequel planned out.  I can't believe it turned out to be almost ten pages!  Wow!   I hope   everyone likes it.  It is quite different from its predecessor, at least how I begun is.

DISCLAIMER- I don't own anything you recognize.  I don't own Elfish and I don't own Harry Potter.  If I did I'd be rich and writing the sixth book at the moment.  (^_^).  

Remember- if you read, be courteous and review!  

White Walls

Chapter One:  The Tournament ****

Incessant buzzing. Being only half-awake, James smashed the source. He felt pain shoot up his arm. This jolted James awake. He looked at the somewhat broken clock and saw that it was eight-thirty. He was late.

"SIRIUS, WAKE UP!" He yelled to a twin bed next to him. Sirius Black, his best friend, had been staying overnight at his house.

"MMMMPH!" He replied.

"We'll be late." He said, putting on his glasses, bringing the clean, white room into focus. It was somewhat small with white walls. Resting against one of them were two twin beds with rod-iron like details, a door and two bed stands separating them. On the wall opposite to the beds was an open French glass door, causing white curtains to blow, creating a wonderful contrast against a warm wood floor.

James got out of bed and went to the bathroom. Smiling smugly, he filled a glass to brimming with cold water. "Sirius, get up now! We don't want to be late for the tournaments."

"James, SHUT UP!" Sirius replied irritably.

"I'm warning you…" He replied calmly. Sirius, however, just rolled over and went back to sleep. "Don't say I didn't warn you…" He whispered, trailing off. James tipped the cup allowing a thick trickle of water to pour on his friend, who shot out of bed so immediately that he caused the entire glass to upend on him. With a cry of fury he began chasing James around the room. 

"I'M GONNA FREAKIN' KILL YOU!" Sirius shouted, along with several obscenities, hurtling over a bed to catch up to his prey. 

James grinned as he ran, Sirius hated early mornings.

Ten minutes later, they ventured downstairs. "Finally!" His mother said, rushing around the kitchen, her hair up in a knob. "We'll be late! Hurry up and eat! We have to be there in five minutes!" His mother had ebony hair and an extremely pale complexion. She always moved extraordinarily gracefully, as if she were a swan. 

The two teens looked at each other, both recognizing the irritated _expression and ate the fastest breakfast they had ever eaten. They surely didn't want to miss the dueling tournaments that were starting today. The modern tournament was basically a carnival for wizards. They had several different categories of fighting. The first and most traditional was the Wizard's duel, where magic was used to fight. The second was Sword Fighting, where they had a category for adolescents ages 15-17. This yearly tournament was held in a different country every year and often referred to as 'the world cup of swordsmanship'. It was currently being held in Nottingham, England. 

This year, there was a more exiting competition commencing. Different wizarding schools from across the world were competing to gain the title of superior dueling skills in both swords and magic. James couldn't wait to see who represented Hogwarts.

The Potters, and Sirius, soon finished breakfast and port key-ed over to the festival. They stood in front of a mammoth multi-leveled burgundy tent. They walked through the flap to reveal a smoky, loud, crowded room.

"Mum, we're going to go see the school competition!" James shouted over the noise.

"Okay honey, be safe!" She responded. "We're going to see some relatives."

"Relatives?" James asked feeling semi-surprised. His family didn't interact with their relatives very often. Many of them now lived overseas. In fact, last time he checked, his Uncle James lived in the Soviet Union. 

"Yes honey, relatives." She said, striding off before he could ask any questions.

"Come on, mate." Sirius called, walking through the crowd, "It's going to start!" They climbed up three rope ladders, then entering a huge hall, full of people, with ten people standing on a large, raised platform. There was a large banner that read, "International Scholastic Dueling Tournament". They were so far back the people beneath the banner were no bigger than seven inches.

A man with a long, white beard got up to speak. He recognized him as Albus Dumbledore. He also immediately realized that he had missed at least half of the speech. "Yes… thank you Mr. Chen." His magically magnified voice said. "Now it is time to introduce the candidates. First of all, I am Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts. Next, representing the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is Lucius Malfoy, Frank Longbottom, and Severus Snape." The three boys stepped onto the platform. 

"How did SNAPE get to compete?" He asked crossly. He had hated the git since the moment when they first met in the bookstore, Flourish and Blotts. 

"I don't know…" Sirius said in disgust. He also disliked Snape.

Professor Dumbledore stepped aside and a tall, thin wizard with balding mousy brown hair took his place. His deep, voice had an American accent to it. "I am Headmaster Quincy B. Tibbens. Representing the Savannah School of Sorcery is Vanessa Chase," The first (and only) girl walked up to the platform, "David Echo, and Trent Evans." The two other boys walked on stage.

The other headmasters presented their students, and soon thirty teenagers were standing on the stage. Then Professor Dumbledore took the lead again. "Let the games begin." He said, smiling. The crowd cheered excitedly. "The competition will begin at eleven. Our first pair is Chan and Malfoy." A short Asian boy stepped forward, as did Lucius Malfoy. 

"One last note before everyone leaves," He said, folding his hands, "The prize for this tournament is this saber. If you will, Headmaster Tibbens?" The same balding man stepped foreword holding a long narrow package covered with white canvas.

"This sword," Headmaster Tibbens started, taking off the canvas coverings (which was a difficult task, it had several strings tied around it as well) "Is not only of the finest steel, but it has magical protective ruins in it as well. Good luck to all of the contestants. Remember, the first match begins at eleven sharp." 

Everyone took that as a dismissal. The crowd on the platform slowly filed off, and most of the crowd surrounding it left. They slowly walked to the front where Frank Longbottom was having an avid conversation with Trent Evans and Vanessa Chase. "Hey Frank!" James said, walking up to the group.

"Hey James, Hey Sirius!" He responded, grinning. "This is Van." He said, pointing to the girl, who was of a moderate height and had long, dark blonde hair that stretched to small of her back. She had sapphire blue eyes along with a rather boyish smile. 'Probably from hanging around with the guys so often.' He thought. She didn't particularly look like a tom boy at the moment, but he supposed she was forced to look proper for the competition.  
"And this is Trent." He said, gesturing to the guy. He had soft brown hair that covered his eyes. He had an athlete's body and held himself rather gracefully. His black shoes were so shiny he could see his reflection in them. 

"Hey y'all." Trent responded. James noted that Trent, too, had an American accent. He elongated all of his vowels. James had heard that referred to as a "Southern accent". 

Both of the teens were outfitted in rather odd school uniforms, which they hadn't noticed because they were standing so far back. They were wearing white oxford shirts with vertically stripped dark and light blue ties. The blazer they wore was also dark blue and the pants (In Van's case skirt) were dark blue with a light blue plaid pattern.

"I'm James Potter." He said to the foreigners, who nodded.

"And I'm Sirius Black. Baby, I bet you came OVER here just to see me." He joked, directed at Van. 

"How did you know?" She said in a heavy American accent. "I mean- am I _that_ transparent?" She added, laughing with him. 

"You are." Sirius replied cheekily. 

Van then took a step foreword, and fell immediately. Trent burst out laughing while Van got up, face red. Sirius helped her up. She cursed. "-high heels. I wish I wasn't required to wear these stupid things." She said bitterly. 

Everyone laughed, even Van. "It's so much fun seeing you her in school and seeing her dueling. It's like two different people."

"Oh?" Van asked, hands on her hips, raising an eyebrow. "And why is that?"

"Because you're damn clumsy." He said grinning. 

"HEY!" Van said, a vindictive look entering her eyes. "That's it. The heels are coming OFF!" She said, only half serious, taking off her light blue high heels. 

"Oh yeah?" He asked, looking completely serious, but he had a happy gleam in his eye. 

"Yeah." Van said. "And when I get a hold of you you'll wish you'd never been born." She said, in mock-anger. James got the impression this was all some big game. 

"YOU'LL HAVE TO CATCH ME FIRST!" He said, running off in his gleaming black dress shoes, his shoes making a clopping sound. Van dropped her shoes and immediately ran after him, giggling. 

"You'll have to excuse them. They do it before every big dueling match they participate in." Said a new voice behind James. James turned around. A tall boy with strawberry blonde hair was standing behind them, wearing the same unusual uniform as his school-mates and a good-natured smile. "I think its nerves. They know each other very well, Trent and Van. Even before school, I heard." He continued. James noticed that the other person, too, had a southern accent. "My name is David, David Echo." He said, almost lazily. Out of the corner of his vision he could still see Van chasing Trent around the now almost deserted room.

"What bad manners." Sirius said, in a mock stuck-up voice. James laughed. 

"Well..." David said nervously, "You know, they're not being serious..." He realized that David didn't realize that Sirius was kidding.

"He was kidding, mate." James said to the now flustered southerner.

"They should stop before the Headmaster sees. We got a huge lecture about how to act in other countries. Hm... I'm sure they don't want detention for the rest of the year. How to get them to stop… Hm…" David said, thinking for a minute. "OH!" He said, suddenly, his eyes lighting up, proceeding to shout, "HOW'S AMERICA'S FAVORATE COUPLE?" Van and Trent stopped in their tracks, both sending similar looks of horror in David's direction. After murmuring something to one another, both stomped over, glaring at David.

"If you wanted us to stop you could have just SAID so." Van said with a dignified air. Realization struck James. She was embarrassed.

"Yeah, you could have." Trent snapped. James saw that he, too, was discomfited.

"Anyways." Frank said, trying to stop any more argument. "I'm nervous about OWLs this year. Do you have OWLs in America?" He asked the Yanks. 

"We have standardized testing in America too, called the TKOTYWYBOFAMG." Van said.

"TKOTYWYBOFAMG?" James asked, confused, yet slightly amused.

"That Kind of Test You Work You're Butt off for a Menial Grade." The Yanks explained in unison.

"JINX!" They both corresponded to yell, again, in unison!

"YOU OWE ME A SODA!" Van exclaimed. "After the match. If you don't hurry up, you'll be late. It's Ten-thirty." She said, checking her watch. 

"WHAT?!" Trent yelled, running off haphazardly. 

Van sniggered. "He forgot he isn't even IN the first match. It's so much fun playing with his nerves!"

"Longbottom, maybe we should go check when our matches are." Van supposed.

"Yeah- that would be a good idea." He said, walking off with her.

"Was it just me or are they hard to understand?" Sirius asked, as they walked off in the direction of the auditorium (**AN-** there are space enlargement charms on the tent. That and the tent is big. Just want to clear that up…) 

((.*.))((.*.))((.*.))((.*.))((.*.))

Twenty minutes later, Van was standing in front of a large, yellow chart. 

"So Frank, we'll be fencing each other right?" Van commented to him.

"We are, aren't we?" He compliantly commented. "Good luck."

"Good luck to you too." Van said, smiling. She was getting such a warm welcome here. It would make it easier for her to move to England.

Suddenly, a cold voice behind her slipped over her like ice water. "Being nice to the half-breed, are you Longbottom?" Van's blood ran cold. She turned around to see two more Hogwarts students. One was tall and superior looking with blonde hair and sharp, piercing blue eyes. The other, the one that had talked, was short, hunched over, had greasy hair, and a big nose. 

"I don't see any half breeds here." Said the one with the huge nose in a cold voice. "Mudbloods, yes, half breeds, no." 

"I'm not half breed." Van said thickly, trying desperately to conceal her emotions. "I'm as much as a wizard as you."

"Of course you are." He retorted, nearly snickering. "I was talking about the mudblood." He said, gesturing to a girl near Van. She was a bit taller than Van with shoulder length, curly deep red hair. 

She turned to reveal a beautiful heart shaped face. Her eyebrows were furrowed. "Well at least I'm not completely inept, Malfoy. Is there a problem here?" 

The two boys sauntered off with a 'humph'.

"_Nalye lumbule ore_." ((Thou art a shadow heart)) She muttered under her breath. Did he know? How would he? She was curious, that was all. Some people referred to her as half breed, others mudblood and the people left either didn't know or didn't say anything. Not many people knew that Van was half elf.

"What did you say?" The girl said, turning towards her with interest.

"Nothing…" Van replied nervously. She wasn't supposed to speak elfish out of her home. Her mother, who was a full elf, had implemented this rule. At first it was rather hard, because Quenya (a form of Elfish), was her first language. "What school do you go to?" She asked, quickly changing the subject. 

"I go to Hogwarts." The girl answered, smiling brightly. Her voice was warm and a bit higher pitched than normal, but not in an annoying way. It was a contrast to Van's voice, which was naturally a bit lower than normal and slightly musical. "By the way, my name's Lily, Lily Evans." She finished. 

"I'm Vanessa Chase. But, please, call me Van. Don't you go there too?" She asked Frank, who nodded.

"Actually, I'm going to go there next year too." Van said. Frank looked somewhat surprised, but Lily smiled even wider.

"That's great!" Lily said. "Are you going to be a fifth year?" She asked Van, who nodded. "Really? I am too. We'll have fun next year." She said, with an air of confidence. 

"Great." Van said, "I'm sure we will." She had just made a new friend, and for a change, it was a girl.

Suddenly, Trent came running over. "I'M NOT IN THE FIRST MATCH, VAN!" He yelled over her snickering.

"Trent," She said calmly, "Meet Lily Evans." She continued, ignoring his choking gestures, "Lily, this sorry excuse for a fencer is Trent Evans. Say, are you too related?" She finished, successfully distracting Trent.

"I donno…" They said, at the same moment, both unsure. 

At that moment, Van looked down at her watch to discover twenty more minutes had passed. "I got to go." Van said, with a nervous air. "My match starts at eleven thirty, and it's Eleven ten! I gotta go! Bye!" She said, waving while she ran off to the dressing rooms. She stopped only once to pull a map out of her blazer pocket, and after she tripped. This happened several times.

As soon as she entered the white dressing room she saw a looming figure. She recognized it immediately as her mother. "I'm sorry I'm late. I was just meeting a few of the locals." Van said timidly. As wise as her mother was, she hated to be late, or when anyone else was for that matter. She was a real presence in the room. She was tall and held herself in a high statute. Yet she looked quite humble, in an odd way. She also looked much younger than her age of approximately 1,000 years old. She had bright blonde hair and deep blue gazing pools of eyes. Her ears were elongated and tapered to an edge. She usually wore a scarf or a woolen balaclava in public, but in this case, she had taken it off, and it lay on a wooden bench, disregarded.

Van sighed. She knew her mother hated wearing all of the scarves and baklavas, but it was important that she wear them. The first reason being elfes were not known to muggles, and the second reason being elfes were seen as a bit crazy in England. They had lost their high statute and gained a reputation of foolishness, if they were remembered at all. Elves were a dying species and with the now rising Voldermort trying to get their knowledge about immortality, they were under severe scrutiny with his followers. She knew this personally. They had lived in England for a month after they left the elf colony. She had been nine. She also hadn't known very much English, for that matter. Her mother, who bore no scarf then, had been insulted and tortured to the point that it got so bad they had to move. They moved to America. Her mother wore a scarf there, even though elfes weren't under such ruthless scrutiny. Van hadn't looked back since. 

"It's okay my child." She said in their native language. They continued with small talk until the match started. Van felt a rush of nervousness flow over her like river rapids in the Savannah River. Time passed, and so did the match, which she won, along with another. She didn't have to fight in the third heat, which automatically put her in semi finals, which, she defeated a Chinese Sorcerer in a Wizard's duel. She was pretty proud of herself considering she hated dueling with magic.

((.*.))((.*.))((.*.))((.*.))((.*.)) 

"Good luck." Van saluted Malfoy with barely a twitch of her wrist.

"Don't need it." He replied and barely allowed his wrist to bend as he returned the traditional gesture. An oily smile crept across his face as he bent into the engard stance. Fighting back fury, Van's knees bent into a similar stance, her heels each at ninety-degree angles to one another. Both adversaries slipped on their masks, Malfoy throwing a smug glare in Van's direction. 

"Swordsman ready?" The referee stepped up beside the list and glanced at each opponent.

Van nodded, the strap of her mask slipping down and knocking hair into her eyes.

"Yes." Malfoy's grin was still visible threw the grate of his headgear.

"I want a clean match, from both of you." The referee, a small squat man glared in Malfoy's direction, and nodded pointedly.

Van was almost sure she heard Malfoy scoff.

"Begin."

Neither opponent moved as Van stared daggers in Malfoy's direction. With a grin, he advanced, his sword aimed high on her chest. Van retreated three times, then with a single repose lunged and slashed across Malfoy's mask with a loud clang. A buzzer sounded near her ear.

"Point one to Miss Chase, Swordsmen back to starting positions please."

Van walked forward and took her ready at her mark. Malfoy, his smug grin somewhat faded in wattage walked backwards to his own mark and sent a singing stare right back at her.

"Swordsmen ready?" The referee asked once more. He didn't wait for a reply, "Begin."

Malfoy surged foreword, all thought apparently lost as he brought his blade crashing down on Van's. The resulting clang echoing in the room amongst the gasps of the crowd. Van reposed with as much force as she was able to and just gain some distance. Malfoy retreated, his fury glinting behind his mask in his bared teeth and angry eyes. Van charged, her sword tip pointed high, swinging back and forth. With one mislaid lunge, Malfoy parried and smacked her smartly on the shoulder, a bit harder than necessary. 

"Point one to Mr. Malfoy. Back to starting positions." 

Refusing to rub the spot on her shoulder where he had struck, Van crouched low and reviewed her tactics quickly. He always aimed high, and when his attack was parried he let his anger get the better of him. She would let him lunge, repose then go for his mask. 

"Begin."

Van looked up and saw Malfoy crouched low, awaiting her attack. She would have to shift her focus. Van took a cautious step foreword and watched Malfoy tense up. With a determined smile, she took another step foreword. 'Where was his gaze…where does he look as I attack?' Van looked quickly for a weakness and soon found her mark. He watched her face…not her sword. Van scrunched up a twist of force and lunged low at Malfoy's legs. Malfoy, his face alight at the thought of her hitting a non-target, let her come; his sword raised to strike whatever part of her torso came closest. Van sculptured her face into a look of what she hoped was a look of "oops!' However at the last second, when Malfoy's face had all but lit up with joy, she raised her tip and struck him squarely in the stomach as hard as she could muster. Joyfully, she heard his breath whoosh out and the point buzzer go off in her ear. With a bounce in her step she turned and walked back to her mark.

"Point two to Ms. Chase. Both of you, back to starting positions, now."

Van's smile was soon lost as she saw the livid look on Malfoy's face that shone despite the grate that covered it. For once she was actually scared, though only for a moment. Wary, she dropped into engard stance once more.

"Begin."

With mild shock she was surprised when malfoy waited for her to make the attack. Van crept foreword, her sword at ready, the blade aimed at Malfoy's heart. Suddenly without warning, he lunged, closing the space between them immediately. He brought his sword down so hard against hers that her hand guard rang in her fist, the vibrations shivering up her arm. With a quick forward motion, he hooked his guard around hers, so the swords were locked on one another. Leaning foreword, he said in voice that was no more than a hiss.

"Give up Half-breed." His voice was low and all the more ominous for it. 'So he knew,' she thought. 

"Never," she muttered back, anger boiling in her chest. She tugged back on her saber, trying to release it from his grasp, but his arm had become jelly, moving where she moved. With an angry growl she yanked with all her might and was rewarded with a buzz in her ear.

"Halt. Back to starting positions." The referee looked angrily in Malfoy's direction, "no more of that please."

With a curt nod, both crouched low. 

"Begin."

Not surprisingly Malfoy advanced first, and fast. Within five steps he was on her, striking at her furiously with no mercy. Van tried to repose but with every parry he struck back and forced her to the line. When her guard fell low her slashed across her torso with one furious blow.

"Point two to Mr. Malfoy. Back to starting positions."

With a victorious grin Malfoy jogged back to position, all but dancing. Van was somewhat less enthusiastic. Her shoulder still hurt…but she refused to let it bother her. She shook out her aching muscles and crouched low again. He was getting arrogant, which she could use. He always watched her face…it was strange really. But that was a weakness. With a smile she nodded to the referee.

"Begin."

Neither moved. Then, with a sigh Van sauntered forward, back straight, sword raised. She looked haughty and ignorant and waited for it to annoy Malfoy to the breaking point.

It didn't take long.

Snarling, Malfoy advanced and with one burst of energy lunged through the space that separated them. 

Van parried with such force that Malfoy went sprawling. With a gleeful smile she waited while he righted himself, and then struck. Shifting the tip of her blade, she swung out at his shoulder and tapped it at the exact same time that Malfoy lunged at her. 

She heard two buzzers. Van looked up and grunted at the fact that both points had been awarded. They were tied. 

"Points 3 to Mr. Malfoy and Ms. Chase. Back to starting positions."

Van took three steps back and contemplated her odds. She was faster than him, but then again he was stronger. He could parry her away so far that she wouldn't have time to block the repose. She sighed and crouched low once more.

"Begin."

Both opponents advanced this time. Van circled her quarry, watching his every move as he did her. He was nervous now, she could tell. And tired as well judging by the sweat that glistened on his forehead. Without warning Malfoy lunged at her mask angrily, his face contorted in concentration. Van parried quickly and reposed. Malfoy backed off, stopping every few seconds to lunge at her mask. After three parries, Van took the offensive, charging forward. When she lunged low on accident, Malfoy seized the opportunity and struck low, aiming for Van's back. Van soon realizing her mistake, shifted the angle of her sword and thrust upward, catching Malfoy in the middle of the chest. 

Van stood and almost reeled backward when her head swam around her. Her back throbbed with so much sudden pain that she cried out and fell to the floor. The referee hurried over and knelt to the floor beside her. 

"Ms. Chase…are you alright?" He put a hand on her shoulder then removed it quickly when she whimpered in pain.

"I'm--I'm fine. Come on." She climbed slowly to her feet (climbed being the operative word as she clung to the referee for support) and stood on her side of the list. Malfoy was on the other side, bent over heaving into a bucket.

She removed her mask and wiped her forehead. She nodded in Malfoy's direction, "what happened to him?"

The referee smiled grimly, "the blow you sent him made him puke up his breakfast…you're dangerous...for a girl." He smiled and began to walk away, then turned suddenly, "by the way…your both still tied…4 to 4."

Van nodded appreciatively and replaced her mask.

"Sword--swordsmen ready?" Asked the ref in a half laugh, eyeing the tottering form of malfoy at the other end of the list.

Malfoy had recovered slightly, though he seemed to totter on his feet a bit and he was paler through grate of his mask. He nodded. The ref looked in Van's direction. The pain had receded to a dull ache, but it still sat there like a toothache…nagging in the back of her mind.

"Begin." 

Van stumbled forward, her stance completely forgotten, her sword rose as high as she could manage it. Malfoy did the same, his stance remaining but hardly what would be called good form. Van lunged, her sword aimed high, but Malfoy parried it downward and made a repose for her chest. Van parried this time, and then grit her teeth as she struck downward onto his head. Malfoy was just able to parry it away, his face contorted in the obvious pain that came from his stomach. Suddenly Van was struck with an idea. Aiming low on his torso, she lunged without any intent to actually strike him. Malfoy, for fear of any further damage to that area, covered his stomach with his hands. Taking careful aim while he was distracted, Van aimed for the hilt of his sword. When his guard was down once more she struck. With as much force that she had left, she lunged forward, hooked the blade onto the end of her sword and swung outward. With a loud clang the blade landed a good five feet away. 

Malfoy stood still, shell-shocked.

Van, her _expression triumphant, walked forward and leaned into his face.

"Give up?" 

Malfoy's face went from surprised to livid, "Never."

"Too-bad…it could have been a draw." She lightly touched the end of her blade to Malfoy's shoulder and pushed. 

She smiled, "wow…a half-breed beating a pure-blood. Now that's unthinkable."

A buzzer sounded near there heads, though it didn't drown the furious growl that emanated from beneath Malfoy's mask.

"Point 5 to Ms. Chase. Ms. Chase wins the Championship!!!" 

Cheers erupted in the crowd and Van's smile grew into a grin as she sent a smug look toward Malfoy.

"Wow…I won. Hmm. Well that means…you lost to a half-breed…and a girl. That'll do well for your image won't it?"

Van spun from him and bowed to the crowd, which was starting to flood out of the stands onto the list. With a salute to the ref she left the list…found the nearest chair and started to collapse, only to be pulled up by Trent. She had only enough energy to issue him a dirty look. 

"Put me down. I'm tired." She scolded Trent, who was grinning from ear to ear and carrying a large, gold trophy.

"Don't worry," He replied happily, handing her the gleaming piece of metal, "I'll carry you. He carried out on his word by hoisting her up on his shoulders. By this time a large group of people were surrounding them, cheering. She held the trophy up well over her head, while her shoulder screamed in protest. Today had been one of the best days in her life.****

**AN-** Okay… I would like to thank KENNIE for writing the fight scene for me.  AND thanks to LOTRseer for lending me the Elfish dictionary.  Thanks to all of those who reviewed chapter eight, much appreciated.  I hope everyone loved this chapter and I hope you all loved the new first chapter.  As you can see, I made some changes.  But none too significant (I was going to reveal her lineage soon in the original version)

SO-

Be kind and review!    (I bet you thought I was going to say rewind, right?)

THANKS IN ADVANCE!  


	2. All In the Family

**White Walls**

**Chapter two:  All in the Family**

            It was the dead of night.  Sirius could hear the rain pounding on the roof, sounding like a thousand blows to the head.  His eyes were burning with unshed tears.  This was his place to escape the terror of his family… this was his place to get away from it all… this was the attic.    

            He placed his hand on his cheek; it was sticky with blood.  He assessed his pain.  He had a horrible black eye and a rather large cut down his leg, along with many bruises.  His pants were ripped… again.  Part of the problem was his father's drinking habits, but the other part of the problem was him.  He knew this and so did his entire family.  And they hated him for it.  They hated him for being himself. 

           His family didn't _always_ hate him.  It was more of a recent discovery.  Ever since he started at Hogwarts.  Ever since he got into Gryffindor.  The Black family _always _got into Slytherin, the rival house to Gryffindor.  He remembered how the Slytherin table had gasped; he remembered how the Gryffindor table just sat there in awe while James Potter made a place for him.  He wasn't an outcast anymore… in fact… everybody had forgotten he was a Black in about a week.  But that was all history.  As soon as he got home, the acceptance was over.  His room was moved to the attic.  And in turn, the attic   became his safe haven. 

            He got out of the hay that carpeted the room and looked around.  He had all of the basic amenities… he supposed his family kept him there.  They moved all of his furniture to the attic… his night stand, his bed, his bachelor's chest... everything.  After a while he grew to hate it.  He was an outcast in his own house. They didn't even want to see him.  A seed of hate grew in his chest, getting bigger by the day.  However, he thought that there must be a forest of hate in his parent's chest.

            Sighing as a lone tear trekked down his cheek; he curled up in the hay and fell into a troubled sleep.  He was walking through an ancient forest.  It was very dark.  He stumbled over roots walking around.  He suddenly started running.   He didn't even know why.  It was like if he didn't run he was going to miss something very important.  Something he dared not miss.  He stumbled into a meadow with shin length grass.  He looked up as he ran; tendrils of white smoke escaped from his mouth, eventually blending in with the navy blue sky dotted with white stars.  He suddenly saw a light coming from the other side of the meadow.  It was steadily heading towards him.  He sprinted to it.  However, it was further than it seemed, but after ten minutes, he could see an outline of a woman.  They stopped when they met each other.  He ached.  His leg, which had stopped bleeding, started to feel like someone was stabbing him with a thousand pins and needles.

             He could see everything the girls' lantern light touched.  He saw that he was in a very foreign land.  Everything was flat.  A sea of grass blew in the blackened night while trees stood there, like proud elders, whispering wisdom in indecipherable speech.

            For the first time he looked at the girl that stood before him.  She was almost as tall as he was with a beautiful silver gown on that glittered in the moonlight.  Her incredibly long hair was blonde; however he couldn't tell exactly what shade.  Her eyes were pools of sea blue wisdom, and her ears were large and came to a point.  His mind stopped.  Her ears came to a point.  She was an elf.  'So they are real...' he thought.

            "Larent."  She said thickly, smoke rising from her mouth as well.  However, she didn't stand there, shivering.  She put a hand on his bloody cheek.  He wasn't quite sure how long they stood there, but he was sure that the pain slipped away after about five minutes.  A wind reached them from the forest, blowing her hair in the wind, making her appear even more spectacular.  She knelt down.

             "No!"  He said, he didn't want her to ruin her dress… it looked so pure… so immaculate.  With a gesture of the hand she silenced him.  Then a thought struck him as the pain was ebbing away from both of his legs.  She didn't know English.  When she was finished, and he felt entirely better, when he was not even cold, she stood up.  Their faces were inches apart.

             "Thank…" he started to say, but quickly stopped when she silenced him by putting her finger on his lips. 

            "Din."  She said, with some force.

            "Well, if you don't know English, I'll have to thank you in a language you will understand."  With that, he pulled her towards him and kissed her in the moonlight. She did not protest.  In fact, she kissed him back almost longingly.  It was like they were meant to be.  He never wanted it to stop.  It seemed that she felt the same way.  She shivered, as if she were cold.  Electricity seemed to crackle between them, ebbing and flowing with pleasant force through the connected point of lips.  He wrapped his arms around her. This moment seemed perfect. He didn't want it to end.  And it didn't.  The kiss deepened and the endless flow of time passed. 

           The stiffness in his neck brought him back to the real world.  Then the pounding on his door assured that he was not going to get any more sleep.  He opened the door, which emitted a low creaking sound.  He saw the cross face of his mother from the other side, and with a sigh, he opened it all of the way.

            "Hullo Sirius."  She said with an uncomfortable air.  "We're going to Diagon Ally in fifteen minutes.  Make yourself look presentable."

           "Right mum…" He said, full of fatigue, proceeding to close the door.

           He blindly reached for his wardrobe for a presentable outfit to wear, found one and put it on mutely, thinking of the fantastic dream that had just ended.  It struck him as soon as he looked in the mirror: all of his wounds were gone.  The elf really had healed him.  "I'll find you…"  He said definitely, "If it's the last thing I do I'll find you and thank you properly."

((.*.))((.*.))((.*.))((.*.))((.*.))

           Van lay on her old bed in her new house.  It was cold and foreign; not at all something she would call home.  But that didn't matter.  She had no choice in the matter, so she moped in her room, unpacking and terribly homesick.  She was pouting when a soft knock sounded on her door.

             "Gorduliniel, edrath." ((Vanessa, Open the door))  Her mother's voice sounded from the other side of the door.  Her mother had used the elfish version of her name.  She was being serious.  Van groaned, reluctance filled her as she got up and turned the dark brass knob, revealing her mother standing there in wizarding clothing. 

             "Hello nareth."  She said rather sullenly, using the elfish word for mother.  She couldn't help but think her life was going to change drastically during her time in England.  It was rather unnerving, really, waiting for something big to happen.  No matter what you say or do, it won't make it come any faster than it would have in the first place.  Van didn't have very much patience for such things.  She hated waiting.

              "Honey, we just got your school lists today.  We're going to go to Diagon Ally with your Aunt Susan and her boy."  She said; her voice unusually stern.  "Be nice."

             "I will."  Van responded happily.  She finally had someone else her age, hopefully, to talk to.  And since it was a boy, it wasn't a girly girl.  She had had to deal with some of those girls at her old school.  Some of them were really nice, but most of them were incredibly shallow.  It made her shudder.  She looked down at her clothes.  She was sure her mother would want her to make a good impression, so she changed into a pair of jeans that weren't ripped. 

              She slowly walked down the creaky stairs and entered the large kitchen.  Her mother stood there, with a rather nervous smile, gripping a large jar of floo powder.  "I can't wait for you to meet your cousin!"  Her mother said enthusiastically.    

              "What's the address?" Van asked, a nervous pang suddenly hitting her.

              "The place is called Maurberry Mansion.  Your father is already there.  Hurry, he'll be wondering what happened to us."  She said in their native language.

              Van grabbed a pinch of the powder with a jolt of excitement.  She loved traveling by floo powder.  Continuing with the process, Van threw it into the flames, stepped in them and yelled "MAURBERRY MANSION!"  She suddenly found herself twisting and turning at light speed, she loved the rush.  It was like being on a muggle roller coaster. 

              As soon as she stepped out of the fireplace she stepped into a rather large living room.  She immediately got the feeling she was in a museum and everything she saw was amazingly beautiful and fragile, like it would crumble to pieces if you even breathed on it wrong.  Or maybe it was just the huge chandelier.   She saw the back of three adults standing at the door, blocking someone from entering.  She recognized one of the adults as her father.  She could recognize his mahogany hair and tall stature anywhere.

              "… and remember, be good." A feminine voice said.  She supposed this was her Aunt Susan.  She vaguely recognized the voice, but the last time she had seen her was when she was nine, and even that was the first time she had seen her.

              She decided now was the best time to speak up.  "Papa!"  She exclaimed, "I'm here."   The three adults whirled around to reveal a rather lanky teenager at the doorway.  He wore glasses and had messy black hair.   Van's eyes widened.  She immediately recognized him as James Potter.  

              However, he had the first word.  "VAN?!"  He said in total surprise.

              "So you know each other?" Said the man she supposed was her uncle brightly.

              "Of course he does." Her father said decisively.  "You know, _MY_ girl won the tournament."

              "Really?"  Her uncle said as if he really didn't know.

              "We did meet at the tournament." James said.  "Van… how come you didn't tell me?"

              "Because I didn't know!"  Van responded, laughing.

              "This is my Dad," He said, pointing to a tall, majestic man next to him.  Very unlike James, he slicked back his black hair, however, Van could tell that his hair longed to rebel. 

              "You can call me Uncle Charlie."  His deep, comforting voice said.  "And my wife here is your Aunt Susan."  He said, putting his arm around a graceful woman with the same mahogany hair her father had. 

 ((.*.))((.*.))((.*.))((.*.))((.*.))

              About a half an hour later, James was guiding Van through Diagon Ally happily.  He was still looking for Sirius, so he didn't mind showing her the entire ally.  He sighed and breathed in the toxic city air.  He loved it for some odd reason.  He loved the cobblestone streets and all of the movement.  Carriages were racing across streets, mothers were rushing their toddlers through the crowds, acting like a security guards.  Van however, didn't seem to agree with him.  She was a bit more tired than usual and not as talkative.  When he asked her what was wrong she would say, "Nothing."  This got on his nerves.

            "…anyways, I met Sirius and Remus at Hogwarts.  Peter was my next door neighbor before he moved."

            "So those are your 'best mates'?" Van asked, amusement seeping through her fatigue. 

            "Yup.  Tell me about yours."  James said, ruffling his hair.  He loved the 'wind effect'.  And more importantly, so did girls.

            "Well… Trent is my best friend." Van said, a nostalgic look on her face.  "He helped teach me English.  We met before school.  Apparently, his father and my father went to school together.  So we were expected to be friends."

            "You mean English isn't your first language?"  He asked Van, who looked as if she said something she shouldn't have.  James didn't understand why she was so nervous about knowing Russian.  "You speak Russian, right?"  He asked anyways.

            "Uh… yeah." Van said, her eyes lighting up as they walked into Madame Malkins.  "Russian is my first language.  How did you know that?"

            "You were born in the Soviet Union, right?" James said, giving her a curious look.  Why was she so unsure about knowing Russian?  Was she hiding something? 

            "Of course."  She said, retaining her happy mood.  "It was nothing like this place.  Forests and plains stretch as far as the eye can see and snow covers everything so much that it's indistinguishable in the winter.  I love the country."

            "So that's why you're so miffed today." James said, suddenly understanding.  Van hated the city.  The explanation was so simple; he didn't know why he didn't realize it sooner.

            "I hate the city."  She said as she stepped into a stall, confirming his thought.  "It drains me of energy."  She gave him a tired smile. She sat on the platform with the door ajar, waiting for the seamstress.  Soon, a short witch bustled into Van's stall, wearing elaborate dress robes and swinging around measuring tape in an impatient manner. Van disappeared from view as the door slammed shut.

            About five minutes had passed when Madame Malkin yelled "Hold still girl!"  In a sudden burst of anger. 

            "I'm trying!" Van retorted. 

             James laughed.  He was glad he didn't have to get new robes this year.  Old Malkin was very impatient and trying.  However, she did have a cute daughter, who had just graduated from Hogwarts.

            "Well try harder!"  The woman snapped.  Soon the noise died down and the only sound was of the scraping of hangers and the occasional squeak of pain from Van getting prodded with pins.  With nothing to do but wait, James sat in a dark mahogany chair with a red velvet cushion.  The lights were dim here in the back of the store, so he closed his eyes and daydreamed about the future Mrs. James Potter; Lilly Evans.   Suddenly, the tiny bell at the front started ringing at an alarming rate.  Old Malkie (what the Marauders affectionately referred to her as) roared from the stall, "DO BE PATIENT MISTER BLACK!" 

            This caught James' attention.  He lazily opened an eye and saw the outline of his best friend ringing a bell repeatedly with a wild smile on his face.  James got up with a grin and sauntered to the other side of the store to greet his best mate. 

            "I was wondering when I was going to catch your attention."  Sirius said playfully.  

            "I was just daydreaming while my cousin gets fitted."

            "You mean the foreigner you got stuck leading around?" Sirius asked.

            "Well, not exactly stuck.  Listen, you will never guess who my cousin is."

            "Who?  Who is the crypt keeper?  Who is Johnny Carson?  Who is John Lennon?"  Sirius questioned as if it were a game show, ringing an invisible buzzer. 

            "I'm sorry, you're incorrect.  The answer was who is Van."

            "Wow."  He said, in serious shock.  "Groovy." 

            Just then, Van stepped out of the stall, holding a stack of Hogwarts robes, shirts, sweaters, skirts, cloaks, and hats.  The pile extended well over her head, so Van was walking quite haphazardly, running into a gaggle of old ladies on her way to the register.  "JAMES!"  She squeaked frantically, "HELP!"  However, just as she   said that, she ran into the register and plopped all of her items down the large, mahogany desk that was the check-out. 

            James hurried over to help her.  Just then, she caught a glance of Sirius.  She remembered him from the competition that had been just a couple of weeks before.  He was significantly cuter than she remembered.  She tried to shake this thought from her mind.  She wasn't interested in love; she was a tomboy.  She didn't need love. Or did she?

**AN-**  Okay, I know this one was a little short, but hey, I'm feeling lazy and I'm working on a different chapter at the moment.  BIG THANKS TO ALL OF MY REVIEWERS!

Lucky-719- thanks for such a sweet review!!!  

Hina- I love the fan art, and I hope you like the art I sent to you!

Kennie- I'll look into that- dear beta reader

Niti- I know you're just dyeing for  this chapter, aren't you, J/K

Rach- You know there always are.

KellyMuller- Thanks for all of the awesome complements!

Em- Same goes to you!

redhairedangel15 – I know I love that moment too.


	3. The Sorting

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AN- okay, I'm not sure how the format's going to look, but I hope that it will look okay. I've been super busy lately with school and everything, so please bear with me here. I wanted to do a double post, but I haven't the time. I'll post really, really soon! I promise!!

ANYWAY- I want to thank all of my loyal readers and reviewers… so read, review, and enjoy chapter three!

****

White Walls

Chapter Three: Sorting

James thought the following two weeks past as slowly as molasses pours from the bottle on a cold brittle winter morning. However, Van occasionally helped relieve him of his incredible boredom when her and her parents stopped by. Mainly his time was spent lying there, doing the homework he neglected to do during the beginning of the summer.

A nervous feeling swept through him. Today was the day they went to back to Hogwarts. At a quarter to ten Van and her parents arrived. He heard his mother great them happily. "Arreiel! Dan! Vanessa! Welcome!" James got off of the couch slowly and walked to the other side of the house to the foyer where Van, his Aunt Arreiel, and his Uncle Dan stood. 

His Aunt Arreiel was beautiful with white blonde hair even longer than Van's and craggy blue eyes. She stood tall and wore a pink scarf over her head and ears. His Uncle Dan was an athletically built six foot three swordsman. He always told the most interesting stories about past matches he had had with renowned wizards. Van was an interesting mix of the both of them. At the moment, she greeted her cousin and paced the room nervously.

"Perhaps she should help you get your things, James." His mother suggested. James directed Van up the grand staircase that led to his room. He was very excited. Van was going to meet Remus and Peter today along with his crush since before he even liked girls, Lily Evans. He sighed. No matter how much he liked her, she hated him. She had something against pranking random people, no matter how many times he told her he was getting revenge in advance. 

"You're going to meet Remus and Peter today." He said as he opened a highly polished mahogany door, revealing his room. 

"Wow…" She said, gawking at the size of it. "I can't get over how _big_ your house is!" 

"Yeah, it used to be a house of some Lord, but it got passed down to my family." He said, explaining the sheer size of the estate. 

((.*.))((.*.))((.*.))((.*.))((.*.))

About thirty minutes Van found herself staring at the wall between platforms nine and ten nervously. "You just run at it." Her Aunt Susan supposed sweetly.

Her stomach filling with knots, she ran at the platform, and waited for the eventual impact. Realization that this impact would not occur came when she saw she was standing in another platform. 

Platform 93/4 was the basic city train platform. She hated the noise and the crowds. Smoke filled her lungs as she hugged and kissed her parents good bye. Van sighed. The city seemed to zap the energy out of her for some reason. It was the oddest thing. Perhaps it was part of her elfish heritage; she did grow up in the Russian taiga. But she focused her mind on other things and boarded the train while James was chatting up a few sixth year girls. Out of the corner of her eye he saw Sirius join him. She released a painful sigh. So that was the kind of girl he was interested in, the girly, peppy, gorgeous socialite. In other words, they were the opposite of her. She tugged her unbelievably heavy pine trunk up the train steps slowly and sat in an abandoned compartment, deciding this was the best time for a nap.

She slowly fell asleep; however, her nap was ruined when two girls walked into the compartment, chatting loudly. She looked up. "Hello." She said thickly, her voice revealing her American accent, which, she was now very conscious of. 

"Can we sit here? The train's full." The willowy one with skin the color of smooth milk chocolate and ebony dread locks said. "By the way, I'm Amaya DeAvangi.

"And I'm Alice Dockett." The second girl said. She was rather shorter and of an average weight also. She had mysterious brown eyes with coffee hair to rival her light complexion. She gave Van a hopeful toothy smile that lit up her rounded face.

"Sure." Van said politely. Alice sat next to her and Amaya sat across from Alice. Van watched the English countryside roll past at what seemed a hundred miles an hour.

They seemed nice enough; she wasn't sure how to act, resulting in an uncomfortable silence on her part. There weren't many girls at her old school, namely because of how much the school focused on dueling. Hogwarts also had a dueling class that she would be taking this year. Her father had filled her to the brim of stories of his days at Hogwarts and his experiences. 

"I know you!" Amaya suddenly said, her dark eyes suddenly lighting up with acknowledgement. "You're the girl that beat Malfoy!" She proceeded to grin widely.

"Yeah- I am."  
"He needed a beating!" Ana proceeded to gush.

"I'm Van." She said, beginning to like the pair.

"So what year are you?" Asked Alice. 

"I'm going to be a fifth year." She said nervously. "In America we would call it tenth grade."

"Really? We're fifth years!" Amaya said happily. "We're in Gryffindor." This statement brought a vague memory of her father's rants of Hogwarts. He had been in Ravenclaw, and he told her, hoped she would do the same. 

"My father told me about the houses, but could you refresh my memory, he really only told me about Ravenclaw."

The girls proceeded to tell her all about Hogwarts. It was much more interesting than her father's long, boring discussions. She loved him, but he wasn't the most interesting man in the world. The discussion took several turns, and by the late afternoon they were friends. Van looked out the window to see heavy black clouds rolling in over the medium grey ones that currently resided there. 

"I got to go to the bathroom." She said suddenly, her claustrophobic side taking over her. 

"Okay." They chimed.

She walked down the slightly shaking hallway of the train. This was one of the first times she had been on a train. The hallway was rather large and well lit with red carpeting and wood paneling.

She turned into the bathroom and opened the window wide enough to stick her head out and breathe the fresh air of the passing country. She could see the land for miles, and almost everything was a gorgeous emerald color that contrasted perfectly with the darkened sky. It started to rain, it had been threatening to all day, and so she put her head back in the train along with the rest of her body. 

When she walked out of the bathroom, she found someone waiting for her. Her stomach leapt with surprise. It was Lucious Malfoy.

"So it's you, half breed." He said scathingly.

"It's me butter fingers." She said her voice full of sarcasm.

"What did you say?" His quiet voice exploding with rage.

"You heard what I said." Van said with a sweet smile. His handsome face contorted into the ugliest look she could have ever seen. He shoved her against a random door, making pain explode up and down her spine.

"Never insult me, half breed. That match was a fluke. You know damn well that you could have never won. I bet you used some weird elfish thing to prevent you from loosing."

"What are you talking about?!" Van asked rather angrily. Was he accusing her of CHEATING? This guy was the sorest looser she had ever seen…

"I'm obviously superior to you-" He continued, now able to control his rage.

Now she was getting mad. He knew exactly how to push her buttons. "Why? Is it because you're a pure blood?"

"Exactly. You finally got it." He said coldly. She tried to escape but he put his hands on her shoulders, preventing her from any escape. "You'll never be one of us, She-Elf."

"Fírima." ((Mortal)) She said, laughing. "I'm not a She-Elf." It's what she told herself, because deep down, she wanted to fit in with everybody else. She wanted to be one of them. Why did her father have to marry an elf? She thought holding back bitter tears. 

"Liar." He replied. She then elbowed him in the stomach, and attempted a get away. It worked. He was doubled over. She ran down the hallway, without really paying attention to where she was going. She suddenly stopped. Something was blocking her way. She tried to continue going, but tripped over that same something that gave a resounding "Ow."

She found herself face down in shoe stained burgundy carpet. She slowly got up and saw what broke her fall. It was a boy about her height with soft brown eyes and soft light brown hair that had a few early strands of grey showing.

"I'm so sorry!" Van said, offering a hand for him to get up. "I was a bit… preoccupied." He took her hand and helped her up.

"It's okay, I was too." He said, laughing warmly. He picked his book up off of the floor and showed it to her. "I need to finish summer reading. I'm Remus Lupin." They continued talking for about five minutes as they walked up and down the train, shouting that they would be at the school in five minutes. It was then that she left to change into her robes. 

((.*.))((.*.))((.*.))((.*.))((.*.))

They soon arrived at the station. The only view Van saw was of students rushing around, trying to avoid the inevitable rain that the black clouds above then threatened.. She saw a huge figure with a large black shaggy beard. He was sort of scary and twice the size of a normal man. 

"Um… excuse me, sir, where do I go?" Van asked, tugging on his heavy overcoat.

"Are you the new exchange student? Yer goin' ter Hogwarts in the boats." He said in a heavily accented voice that she did not understand.

"BOATS!" He shouted over the noise. "Firs' Years over here!" He started to yell, until a group of ten and eleven-year-olds was surrounded around her. She felt self conscious and easily noticeable, but she couldn't hear anything but the roar of the huge man's voice over the excited students.

Soon they boarded the boats. She got stuck with two giggly girls (who weren't that bad) and a blonde boy with a huge white smile that kept asking her if she wanted his autograph.

"I promise you I'll be famous one day!"

"That's quite alright." Van said. It was the first words she had spoken since "Hello". 

"You're the yank!" Exclaimed a girl with hair the color and texture of hey and freckles sprinkled across her heart shaped face.

"You're the one that beat Lucious!" The other girl assumed. She had short rich brown hair and deep brown eyes along with a year round tan that Van envied.

"It depends… is that good or bad?" Van asked hesitantly.

"Very bad!" The boy stated rather opinionatedly. "Girls don't belong on the fencing floor! It's an outrage!"

"No one asked _YOU_ Lockhart!" The brunette snapped.

"What do I have cooties?" He asked.

The girls looked at him with looks on their faces that plainly said 'you don't want us to answer that, do you?' Van grinned proceeding to chuckle. "We think it's very honorable." The blonde one stated.

"Yeah, I even started to take fencing lessons!" The second one added joyfully. 'Wow… I'm really influencing them. This is kind of cool…' Van thought, her smile getting wider. 

"How long have you been fencing?" The brunette added curiously.

"Well… I've been fencing ever since I could hold a sword properly…" Van paused, thinking rather deeply, and counting years on her fingers. "It will be… eleven years next… uh… February I think" 

Upon that statement, both girls and the Lockhart boy stared at her in awe.

For the rest of the boat ride Van stared at the magnificent castle she would be spending the next three years at. It looked like it belonged in her childhood fantasies of kings and brave knights fighting dragons with explosive tempers. She remembered the tales the storytellers would tell all of the children in the clan. It gave her a nostalgic feeling. 

Just then, lightning flashed and thunder rolled; causing Van's nostalgia to end. The boats finally reached land and the group proceeded to run into the school. The downpour started just after the last of the first years walked through the threshold to stare at a cross woman with chestnut hair tied tightly in a bun. 

"I am Professor McGonagall." She said rather severely. "And welcome to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

"The start of term banquet, along with the sorting, will begin shortly. There are four houses, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house is very proud. You will be spending all of your time there, from sleeping in your dormitories to spending your free time in. I will be back shortly, until then, stay here and be quiet. 

A few minutes later, Professor McGonagall came back. "We are going to enter a bit differently this year. Ms. Chase, you are going to go first. After Ms. Chase is sorted, Mr. Filch will lead you into the Great Hall. 

'Oh God.' She thought quickly. 'The whole school is going to see me.' She couldn't help her stage fright. She always had it, but she was able to break out of it when she was dueling. 

"Take that thing out of your hair!" The Professor scolded, motioning to her scrunchie. She took it off, her dark blond hair falling out of its ponytail in a sheet. She sighed, straitened her robes and tie, opened the door, and didn't look back. To see the Professor following her with a roll of parchment in her hand.

The silence was unnerving. Every single pair of eyes in the great hall were boring down on her, making her feel very self-conscious. Falling down would be the worst thing to do now, she told herself. 'Right foot up, over, down, Left Foot, up, over, down' her brain commanded her feet, which felt somewhat detached from the rest of her body. When she approached a stool with a hat on it, she stood next to it. She saw all of the first years gathered around the door. 

"This is our first transfer student in fifty years." Said McGonagall, who was on the other side of the stool. "She's a fifth year and transferred from The Savannah School of Sorcery. First years, come up." The first years obeyed and toddled up the hall and lining up next to her when they reached the stool. 

Just then, the hat burst into song. Van was so astonished, she didn't listen to half of it, and she just stared at it, somewhat surprised. This was perfectly understandable of a reaction for those not accustomed to inanimate objects bursting into song. She had heard enough in Amaya and Alice's discussion to know about the houses. Gryffindor was for the brave. Hufflepuff was for the good hearted, Ravenclaw was for those full of wit, Slytherin was for the cunning.

"Vanessa Chase" She said, peering down at her parchment unnecessarily. 

Van then took the hat sat down on the stool, and placed it over her head. It whispered in her head. 'Hm… you have a keen mind and a good heart, but I think the best place to put you is…' The had paused, for dramatic effect perhaps. Her heart raced none the less. Wait… Can hats pause for dramatic effect? 

The hat shouting "GRYFFINDOR" ignored her train of thought! She took the hat off of her head and sauntered to the roaring Gryffindor table. Amaya and Alice made a space for her, she then sat down and watched the rest of the sorting ceremony.

((**))((**))((**))((**))((**))((**))((**))((**))((**))

The feast was jovial and lasted long into the night. Lily was happy she got to see all of her old and new friends. There was something the magical world satisfied in her that the muggle world could not. She wasn't sure exactly what attracted her; it was like it itched a spot that the muggle world couldn't even reach. She enjoyed the company of the transfer student, Van. She was a tomboy, but fit perfectly into the odd fifth year group.

Vanessa Chase had come to England from America and had competed in the dueling championships held over the summer right before she moved. Lily had smiled when she heard this. She had thought the American looked familiar and suddenly remembered their encounter at the competitions. Van looked at things from an entire different perspective than Lily did, and that fascinated her. Van was also related to James Potter, which amazed her because Van was in no way big headed. But that was beside the point.

Soon the start of term feast came to a close. Professor Dumbledore stood up to make his usual start of term announcements. Lily wanted desperately to just go to the dorms and sleep, but the shining prefect badge on her chest made sit up strait and pay attention.

"I have only a few announcements." He said, stroking is light grey beard in his usual raspy voice. "First of all, the Forbidden Forest is, of course, forbidden." He directed his attention to the Marauders upon saying this. 

"Congratulations to the new prefects, Filch has added some new items to the restricted list. It contains 120 items in all, and Quiddich tryouts are on September 12th." Everybody took that as a dismissal. "First years over here!" She saw Remus Lupin rise from the table, and walk towards him, all of the other marauders in toe. She wondered why they did this, but the answer came to her when she saw a gleaming prefect badge on his chest.

Remus wasn't all that bad. In fact, he was the only Marauder that she actually liked. Peter was kind of shy and creepy. He was rather short with blonde hair cut in a bowl shape and watery blue eyes. Sirius Black was funny, but he flirted with everything in sight that was female. He was quite handsome. He had big, brown eyes and hair was so dark black when it shined in the dark it was blue ((an- like the color of Elvis's hair!)). James Potter seemed to be the leader, along with Sirius. He had windblown hair he was constantly making messier and expressionate hazel eyes hidden behind glasses. Her fingers itched to correct it, but she did not, reminding herself that he had the biggest head of anybody in their year. 

"Hello." Remus said as first years gathered around them. She realized Van was standing beside her. 

"Should I go with y'all?" She asked after greeting her cousin.

"I suppose." Lily said with a smile.

"So did you think about what I asked you last June?" James asked her.

"What did you ask me?" Lily asked him, confused.

"You don't remember?" He asked, clutching his heart in his melodramatics. "I'm so hurt!" He exclaimed, then covering his face pretending to sob.

Realization struck Lily. "Oh, you mean when you asked me out? I thought it was a joke…" She said seriously.

"I was," He said coolly. "Anyway, I gotta go…. See you later Moony."

"Moony?" Lily asked, puzzled. James was a conundrum in himself. Remus shrugged. They then lead all ten first years (and Van) to the Gryffindor common room. The school was as splendorous as it always had been. She never got used to the beauty of the school, the paintings, sculptures, architectural details. Every year when she returned it was like she was seeing it for the first time all over again. Van was just staring at everything in awe as if she were in a museum. "My old school wasn't this nice." She said, not taking her eyes off of the scenery. "I'll never get used to this place—it's huge!"

"So how was your old school?" Lily asked as they ascended the girl's staircase, the first years following them, talking and giggling quietly most likely about boys. 

"Well… it specialized in all types of dueling. You went to morning practices about five AM and then we hit the showers and eat breakfast at eight, then you go to school all day. You have study hall from four to six, at six you eat dinner, then from six forty five to nine there's practice. After that you have a bit of extra time to do work, and then you go to bed."  
"Wow…" Lily said in awe, "sounds hard.:"

"Well… I really love dueling." Van said with a smile as they reached the first year dormitories.

"These are your dormitories." Lily said kindly to the first years. The ankle biters slowly filed in the open door, taking in every single detail. Of the round room. 

Lily shut the door after the five girls, remembering her first year fondly. It had been a time of innocence. (even the marauders had been slightly more innocent then they were now) Everything had been so easy. She sighed. This year would be exactly the opposite. This was the OWL year. 

They continued up the staircase and stopped at the last door on the right. There was a window on the left wall, uncovering the grounds of Hogwarts, cloaked in darkness. 

Okay, you like? Really? Cool. I'll send my usual review thank yous with the next chapter… which, hopefully will be up by Wednesday…

LOVE-

MOE23


	4. Meat Pie

**AN-** Okay, Wednesday happened three months later, didn't it?  However, I'm updating and that's all that matters.  In fact, Wednesday isn't even a Wednesday, isn't it?  But that's okay.  ^_^ I have mid terms coming up (BLAH!) OKAY!  Well…here goes!

**Chapter Four: Meat Pie**

Staring at the darkened grounds, Van could hear giggles and a new and rather loud voice that was filled of mirth.  Lily opened the door and the narrow stairway was soon flooded with light.   Van squinted, feeling a sharp jab of pain in her eyes getting, which were getting used to the now bright room and stairway.  She saw Amaya and Alison along with another girl, sitting on the floor.

"We were just waiting for you!"  Amaya said, giggles flooding her normally calm voice.

"Well, we're here now." Lily said, happily.  She then turned to address Van, "Every year, at the beginning of the school year, we stay up all night and talk about what's been going on, you know?"

Van smiled and nodded, sensing this group was a tight bunch.  

"You must be the new student!  I'm Genevieve Murray, you can call me Gen." The unknown girl greeted, with a cheerful, vivid voice that had a liver pool accent.  She had sharp, green eyes with a big smile and dimples on each of her cheeks.  Her pale face was framed by fiery orange hair that was slightly wavy and trailed down to her chest. 

Van quickly introduced herself.   

"So what have you been doing all summer, Van?" She asked, sounding genuinely interested. 

The girls talked for the rest of the night, speaking of their summers, what classes they hated and loved, what guys were cute, what Hogwarts was like, and many other things. When the subject changed to her old school, Van grinned.  "I remember how it was like at my old school.  There was only three other girls and none were in my year."

"Wow…" murmured Amaya, "That must be tough."  
            "Not really…" Van said rather sheepishly.  "I'm just used to guys much more than girls, though."  She then laughed nervously

"Then you can give us advice!" Gen said, while the others laughed.  Van joined in.  She felt oddly welcome here.  By the time everyone was too tired to talk, it was very early in the morning.  Van flopped on her bed and fell into a shallow sleep.

**$$$***$$$***$$$***$$$***$$$**

Van woke up unusually tired the next morning.  She trudged down to breakfast.  She glanced down at the platters of rich, English food and settled on some toast.  The pumpkin juice was good and put some energy into her unusually tired bones.  In fact, all of the fifth year girls were tired.  The only one that wasn't half dead was Gen, who was happily eating her breakfast, and gave Professor McGonagall a surprisingly cheerful hello, upon receiving her schedule. 

Van took a look at hers.  She had four classes today.  First she had runes, then Transfiguration, after a short lunch break was Potions, and finally Dueling.  As soon as she finished her breakfast, she headed towards what she thought was the Runes class room.  Ten minutes later, she found it.  It was on top of the south tower.  It was a large room and very well lit.  There were five rows of six desks, making a capacity of thirty students in all.  There were maps and posters decorating the plain walls of the round classrooms.  At what she presumed was the front of the room was a black board and a large, oak desk belonging to the teacher.  

After the bell rang, and everybody was seated, a short and plump Indian man stood at the front of the room.  "As you all know, I am Professor Banak.  Everybody stand up."  There was a murmur, and then the sound of chairs scraping the floor as everybody followed his instructions.  "I have decided this year to assign seats."  The class groaned.  Professor Banak proceeded to stand in front of each row, calling out the names of the students in the order they were to sit.   Van found herself sitting in the second desk of the fourth row. 

"If you don't like your seating arrangement at the moment, you can wait until the next semester when I rearrange the seating chart."

Van wasn't particularly mad with her seat.  She sat beside Remus, who was also taking this class, in front and behind some random Ravenclaws and on her other side was a Hufflepuff.  The class passed rather fast, and she found that they would be Studying Ancient Egyptian and Merfolk runes. "And if we have enough time, we will also start the language of the Elves.  That is all."  The entire class left the room, scattering in all directions.

**$$$***$$$***$$$***$$$***$$$**

James grinned; it was his time for his favorite class, Transfiguration.  He sat down at the table he shared with Sirius. He looked around the familiar classroom.  It had the same three posters about having a positive attitude, and a large window with a rather scenic view.  As it is in most Hogwarts classroom, the chalkboard and the teacher's desk sat in the front of the classroom.  There were now more people in the classroom, virtually all of the Fifth year Gryffindors were there.  Van sat with Remus in front of him, and Peter and Gen sat behind them.  He was looking for Lily, who hadn't arrived yet.  As soon as she arrived, the only other available table was on his right.  As she sat down he said, "We need to stop meeting like this."  He then grinned slyly.  Lily just rolled her eyes and sat down.

The lesson passed by rather quickly, ending with the professor giving homework at the end of the class period.   "Read pages 1 to 20 in your books, see you Wednesday!"  She yelled after them.  He sighed, he had wanted to escape without having homework, but he knew this would possibly never happen. 

"I don't want to read twenty pages!" Peter whined

"You can read?" Sirius asked, half distracted.  This angered Peter, who left in a huff. Remus chuckled and James outright laughed.  Lunch was shepherd's pie.  Van sat near their group this time, enquiring what it was.  "Well, it's like a pie, but it has meat--"

"A pie that has meat?!"  Van exclaimed.

"Among other things." He replied nonchalantly.

He watched Van try it, and could tell that she didn't really like it, but she ate most of it anyway.

**$$$***$$$***$$$***$$$***$$$**

Van trudged to potions, her least favorite class.  In her opinion, magic was much more than mixing things together.  Her mother, being an elf, disagreed.   The main magic of the elves lied in two things:  their potions and their telepathic and ability to tell the future.   A lanky balding professor walked up to her.  "You must be the transfer student."  He said warmly.  "I'm Professor Smyth."  He said, his brown eyes glittering.  They matched his thinning brown hair.  His head was topped by a large bald spot and he had a beak-like nose.  "You can sit over there, with Mister Snape."  He pointed to the greasy haired teen.  

"Hello."  She said, plopping down on the stool next to him.  Snape just turned the other direction.  He was really the picture of teenage anxiety.  .  He was not the most handsome fifth year, in fact, he was far from it.  He had rather long greasy black hair with an extraordinarily pale skin tone.  He was somewhat tall and extremely thin.  She thought he would probably be described as "runty".  He had hollow black eyes that could peer into your soul.  'But I'm not stuck up enough to snub him,' She thought as she listened to Professor Smyth's lecture on making strong potions. 

Van was half asleep by the end of the hour, as were most of her classmates.  She discovered no matter how nice of a person Professor Smyth was, in most cases, a rock was more interesting than he was.  He lectured in monotone and hardly let them make anything.  It only increased Van's hate for the subject.  The class time slowly passed by until it finally ended.    "Remember, read the first chapter and answer the ten problems in t he book."  He said nonchalantly.  "You are free to go.  We start potion making Wednesday."

Van walked out of the potions classroom, with a kind of surreal feeling.  She was about to attend Dueling class at last.  The lone thought of the class had kept her awake in potions and sort of jumpy all day.  She realized she was just nervous.  What if she didn't like the class?   What if it made her hate dueling in general?  'Then I don't like it as much as I thought I did, did I?' her common sense told her.  She soon walked into a sunny classroom on the first floor.  It had a wall of what she thought was enchanted glass (a kind of glass that couldn't break).  The room was much larger than her other class rooms.  It had a corner with a few desks, and it also had a wall of blackboards at the front.  The main part of the room, however, was a large cleared out area that was covered with mats and such.  She appraised that this would be a very physical class.  She grinned.  She was going to love this class.  

She walked up to a trim man of a medium height.  He had dark brown skin and springy black hair that was shorn close to his skull.  "You must be the new student.  I'm Professor Relythe." He said, smiling.  Van detected a strange accent in his speech.  "We have uniforms for this class.  We take the first five minutes of each class to change into them."  He handed her a black pile of clothes.  "It's a medium; it should fit you.  The girl's changing room is over there."  He said, pointing to a mahogany door. 

She walked in, and saw that there were two other girls in it.  There was a raven haired Ravenclaw and a blonde Hufflepuff.  "You're the newbie."  The Ravenclaw said in a husky voice.  "I'm Marlene McKinnon.  And this is Jenny Bones, we're both sixth years."  Van nodded and smiled brightly. She eyed Jenny who blushed and nodded her head. 

"I'm Van Chase,   and I'm a fifth year.  I didn't realize that they mixed years."

"Well, they only do this for fifth and sixth years, you see, there can be some schedule conflicts, so it's simpler if it's done this way. So, what's your favorite kind of dueling?"  She asked.  They talked as they changed, and until the professor quieted them, waiting for class to begin.  She could tell that Marlene and Jenny were opposites. While Marlene was very confident, Jenny was shy.  They even looked very different.  Marlene was very tan.  She had black hair with mahogany highlights that fell down to her upper back.   At the moment, it was tied into a tight bun.  Her eyes were dark brown.  She was tall, thin, and very beautiful.  'A classic foreign beauty' she thought wistfully, 'if only I could   look like that.'

Jenny had short blond hair and cornflower blue eyes.  She was on the shorter side, and like most blonds, quite pale.  Even her voice fit her personality; it was barely above a whisper.

About twenty five fifth and sixth years were in this class; she saw Frank Longbottom and Remus Lupin lurking in the knot of students that was standing around the professor, waiting for him to begin.  You really couldn't tell who was in which house with their uniforms.  They were all hot, with baggy black pants and a long sleeved, black top.  She also saw Snape standing there.  For some reason, she just didn't like him, but she tried to give him a fair shot.   'You can't always judge a book by its cover' the sensible side of her said.  

"We will be working on pole combat today."  He called, quieting the class.  "I believe you all know the basic hits and blocks, but I will be demonstrating a few of the fancier ones today.  Since it is a bright and sunny day, we'll be going outside.  Everybody grab a pole"

 As the class left the room and soon entered a rather sunny patch of grass.  Professor Relythe commanded them to stand in a line.  He paired them off as he called "One" or "Two".  She was a two.   

"Every one turn to your left.  He or She is your partner."  Van tuned to her right to see who her partner was. It was a tall black boy with muscular arms and a mean glare.  He also wore a Gryffindor Prefect badge on his chest.  "I'm Kingsley Shaklebolt." The burly sixth year announced to her.  He was also an intimidating foot taller than her five foot eight self.

"I'm Van Chase."  She said smiling up at him, while shading her eyes from the sun. 

"Your parents named you Van?"  He asked as his eyebrows rose.

"Oh come off it," Van laughed, "It's just short for my real name."

"What _is_ your real name?"  He asked, rather curious.  

"If I told you, I'd have to kill you.  Please spare me the convenience of having to hide your body." She said solemnly.

They got to work.  As she suspected, he hit hard.  They practiced simple hit-block combinations to refresh their memory.  Unfortunately for Van, the Professor soon showed them a much more accurate hit, and a harder block position.

Van was very happy when they got to switch positions, because she could give Kingsley a taste of his own medicine.  She grinned; he was as bad at blocking as she was.  The hour ended much sooner than she would have liked it to.  After the students got into the rhythm of things, the professor would change what they were doing. "We'll start actual duels at the end of the week!"  He shouted at them as they ran back to the classroom to get changed.

**$$$***$$$***$$$***$$$***$$$**

Van lay on her bed shortly after dinner.  The busy day had exhausted her; but she knew that she had much more to do before she could sleep.  'I wish I had gotten a better night of sleep last night' she thought.  She opened her Transfiguration book and started reading the assigned pages.  To her surprise, it was quite fascinating.  The book was much better than her old Transfiguration book.  She cringed just thinking about it, it had miniscule print and explained things in the most complicated terms possible.  While this book didn't make her feel stupid, it also did a much better job of explaining things.  Besides, reading about how different gems were made and used was quite interesting. 

She took a look at her schedule.  "How long can I procrastinate on my potions homework?"  She asked herself aloud.

"So you're not fond of Potions either."  Mild mannered voice behind her commented amused. 

 She sat still for a moment before answering "Who is?"  She turned and saw the Peter, James, Sirius, and Remus behind her.  
            "I am!" Peter whined.

"You're out of your mind." Van replied.

"Look who's talking." James said, grinning. "Talking to yourself is often a sign of insanity."

Van shrugged, grabbed her things, and went up to the dorm.

In the dorm, she paced.  She knew James was kidding with her, and it didn't exactly bother her, but she just felt… antsy.  She couldn't stop fidgeting.  She sat on her bed and wiggled her foot, thinking of what she had to do.  She paced around the room a few times and finally decided to run around the castle.  She put on her favorite abused pair of sneakers, if you could call them that.  Their tread was worn beyond belief and she couldn't tell what the original color was anymore.  She looked at herself in the mirror; she looked odd wearing a skirt and sneakers, but she happily skipped out of the dorm anyway.

She jogged out of the common room, spying Remus studying and Sirius and James playing a game of wizard's chess.  Peter was no where to be seen.  "I wonder where he is…" She muttered, but then reminded herself that he was not her problem.  She ran around the castle, thinking about the year to come.  Little did she know all of the changes that would occur.

AN- I knew I would do the tanks this chapter, so thanks to all of my loyal reviewers… chapter five is on it's way!!!  So… yeah.  Anyway, thanks so much for your support. I gotta thank Kennie for pushing me to write; otherwise this wouldn't be coming out.  Read and Review; because every author loves to be acknowledged!

Who else except me loved the professor's names?  Some of them actually have funny stories on how I settled on them…. (Not only professors but characters.  I like Gen's story the best, though)  

Until next time,

      MOE 

          :-D 


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